‘Dysfunctional’ David Cameron Not Fit to be Prime Minister, Claims Ex-Whitehall Adviser

Via an article in IbTimes (source): Prime Minister David Cameron is not fit to lead Britain, according to a former Whitehall adviser, who appears to have an axe to grind with anyone in government.

Dominic Cummings, who states on his blog that he was Michael Gove’s main adviser between 2007 and 2014, told delegates at an event organised by thinktank IPPR that the system which elected Cameron is “dysfunctional”.

Cummings’ speech branded the PM’s inner circle “chaotic”, and called his top advisors “totally useless”.

Cameron “could not manage his way out of a paper bag,” he added.

Cummings said Cameron’s qualification in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) from Oxford was next to useless for running a country.

“PPE graduate politicians [like Cameron] think they’ve been taught to run the country, but don’t know how to organise their own diaries. They are arts graduates with no idea of managing people or budgets,” Cummings said.

“You have the wrong people who have no training for the systems they are dealing with, so it’s unsurprising things go wrong. People who get promoted focus on personal goals and focus on being important, not getting things done. So don’t be surprised when they can’t solve problems.”

Cummings appeared to widened his rant to include anyone in Whitehall.

“Politics selects for narcissists and people with bureaucratic mind sets. Judgements are made on basis of speeches and jokes. They tend to fill up with people energised by social networking and climbing the greasy pole,” he said.

The former adviser stated that posts such as private secretaries should be abolished, also claiming there was a culture of policy failure which was unavoidable and all-encompassing.

He slammed project management standards in a sweeping attack of government departments and how they formulate goals. “Project management is awful. If you want to see shocked faces in Whitehall then say you want to pursue people for getting things wrong to their new department.

“People in the Treasury do not have the skills to cut budgets.”

“Failure is absolutely normal and not something to be avoided and the HR system can’t handle that.”

Cumming’s former employer Michael Gove was replaced as Secretary of State for Education in a cabinet reshuffle in July 2014 and moved to the post of chief whip of the Conservative Party, which was alleged by some to be a demotion, althoughCameron denied this was the case.